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Saturday, November 19, 2016

Bias at Twitter

Of course, this is the same Twitter that allows #AssassinateTrump to trend. If you read messages with that hashtag on Twitter, the first ones you see berate Twitter for doing that. But if you keep going, you will see lots of messages from people really wanting Trump to be killed.

[Note: Twitter login required to see posts.]

Another problem is the fact that once one starts banning “hate speech,” you face the need to define it. In the world of the politically correct, saying nasty things about Christians is fine, but saying critical things about Muslims is “hate speech.” It’s fine to say nasty things about whites and males, but racial minorities and women are protected.

It’s absurdly unlikely, in other words, that any neutral, fair ban on “hate speech” will ever be enforced.

Which is why racist speech (including speech that is really racist, and not just called “racist” by the politically correct) should be allowed, on Twitter and elsewhere. People who disagree with such speech have equal free speech rights to contest such speech. Indeed, social media like Twitter and Facebook make that very easy.